Racial Equity
Racial equity is our foundation’s primary guiding equity framework. Race has been and continues to be the primary way our country sorts access to health, safety and opportunity. Race also affects the experiences of immigrants and refugees, as they find that their ethnicity is racialized through policy and treatment and predicts their access to opportunity as well.
When talking about racial equity, we intentionally use the term Black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC). We use the term to reflect that although racialized policies and practices affect all people of color, Black and Native American people specifically endured the brunt of the violence in the founding and building of America. They were and still are uniquely targeted by government policy and practice, all of which have continuing negative impacts. Such practices have been adopted across the globe, where Indigenous and darker-skinned people are often treated differently and unjustly by their societies and governments.
Our commitment to racial equity means we focus on addressing the issues and experiences faced disproportionately by Black, Indigenous and other people of color in our region. This also means we invest more than 75% of our grant dollars disproportionately in favor of organizations that are created by, led by and do work for BIPOC community members. This includes culturally-specific and cross-racial organizations. It also means that among all BIPOC organizations, we invest grant dollars disproportionately in favor of those led by and serving Black and Native communities.
Funding BIPOC communities means funding organizations with strong political and cultural identities. BIPOC-led organizations serve as hubs for relationship and community building, access to resources, learning, advocacy, political organizing, and so much more.